Consider Emily Brontes presentation of Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights
From when he first appears in the book, Heathcliff has been portrayed by Emily Bront as an outcast, unfairly treated throughout his life. Found on the streets of Liverpool and resented by his ‘brother’, Heathcliff had a harsh childhood. ... Heathcliff’s true love then betrays him and dies, is this enough justification for his behaviour in life? I am going to analyse the way in which Emily Bront portrays Heathcliff and try to justify his actions. ... Nelly is biased, as it seems throughout the story she has always had a dislike for Heathcliff and Cathy. I can see how her dislike for Cathy started as she was ‘mischievous’ and ‘wayward’, but Nelly thought of Heathcliff as ‘not vindictive’. ... Nelly obviously feels she has a valid reason for disliking Heathcliff, yet is Nelly jealous of Heathcliff? Nelly was born a servant yet fatherless and motherless Heathcliff, without a name, is taken in and given preferential treatment over the other children by Mr. ... Nelly is ambivalent in her nature, one minute she is helping Cathy and Edgar’s relationship, yet another time she organises Cathy and Heathcliff’s final meeting together. ... Yet from the first instance in the book we can see the incivility of Heathcliff as he ‘could not’ give Lockwood a good home. Lockwood notices Heathcliff’s ‘look of hatred’ and is told to ‘go to hell’. Through Lockwood we can see Heathcliff as bitter, cruel and harsh, which instantly gives us a bad opinion of Heathcliff. Through Nelly and Lockwood, Heathcliff is portrayed as a diabolical man, yet through Cathy, who knows Heathcliff the most, Heathcliff is portrayed entirely differently. ... This is like Edgar, she loves him for his looks, not his personality or soul, as she does Heathcliff. ‘Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks’; he will always love her and will always be there for her.